Blog

05 Nov 2018

After 15+ incredible years, with profound sadness, I am sorry to announce that MusicTank is closing. This closure is with immediate effect and its website will no longer be updated, but remain for archive purposes.

19 Oct 2017

MusicTank has published the second part of its ground-breaking research into musicians’ mental health, conducted by Sally Gross and Dr. George Musgrave of University of Westminster. ‘Can Music Make You Sick?’ is an accomplished piece of work, distinguished by it being the world’s largest known academic study into music and mental health, its publication marking the end of this year-long study into anxiety and depression as experienced by both musicians and music industry professionals.

22 Mar 2017

The ticketing debate has rolled on for 10+ years now, with MusicTank among the first organisations to publicly and consistently platform debates on this as far back as 2008, since which, the mantra of “willing buyers; willing sellers” has been used to justify a practice at times inseparable from outright extortion. Regulation, consistency in the marketplace and transparency are vital components in a sector in desperate need of reform.

14 Dec 2016

FanFair Alliance tracked the re-sale of 2 Take That Tickets from the moment they were listed on Wednesday 26th October 2016, the morning that their pre-sale opened. Initially priced at £777.77 apiece, seats 65 & 66 were 2 of among 350 tickets being sold by a Quebec-based tout called Julien Lavellee (I Want Tickets) for the group’s four shows at The O2. Here's the story...

10 Nov 2016

At the risk of going out on a political limb, in the wake of last night’s US Presidential election, it’s impossible for the outcome to not influence the tone and content of this editorial. After all, it isn’t everyday that a complete outlier gets to tuck their fit under the desk in the Oval Office…

20 Oct 2016

Following the path of several other European cities, London is soon to have its own 'night czar' – not an authoritarian figure telling us all to go home early, but someone who will champion the hours of darkness as a legitimate time to be out and about. Whoever is appointed will have a big job on their hands, managing nighttime activities for 8.6m people, not to mention needing to wade-in to policy details, support local campaigns and where necessary, push for legislative change.

15 Sep 2016

UK Music’s annual Measuring Music report 2016 was published at a key moment earlier this month, coming at the end of a summer in which the live music industry has remained foremost in headlines detailing its battles, be they the plight of grass roots venues, the ongoing issue of secondary ticketing, or most vocally, the recent the closure of Fabric...

30 Aug 2016

We need to close the value gap and for negotiations to start from a level playing field. Only then can we have competitive licensing in a truly free market. And only then will the true value of music rights be fully realised...

21 Jul 2016

“As a black man who’s worked in the highest levels of the music industry in both the US and the UK, I can tell you that a black American male has much better career prospects in the music industry than his UK counterpart.”

16 Jun 2016

Fast forward to 2017, only time will tell whether we'll be discussing 2016 as positively, should the UK make a #Brexit on June 23, in which case the live sector, exports, manufacturing and copyright reform perhaps stand to loose the most...

01 Feb 2016

With the Europe ‘In’ or ‘Out’ debate rarely off the news agenda, and with a forthcoming referendum that could take place as early as June, it’s somewhat surprising there hasn’t been more open dialogue across the music business about the implications of a result favouring Britain’s exit from the EU.

21 Oct 2015

The inexorable rise in the growth of streaming services isn't good news for the majority of artists and performers, who currently reap significantly lower royalty payments from an increasing number of licensed streams compared to royalties they derive elsewhere, such as from broadcasts and sales of recordings.

18 Sep 2015

Compulsory Licensing (‘CL’) is an option that has historically been seen as anti-competitive and as closing down a free market in favour of some sort of socialist protectionism for artists. In actual fact, it may just be the platform the digital market needs to open up competition and foster the innovation in services and business models so desperately needed.

18 Sep 2015

2015 is turning out to be a transformational year for the music industry with a near endless supply of headline news around all things ‘digital’…The speed of development of innovative new models in the digital marketplace highlights huge gaps in legislative solutions for the application of IP rights and the urgent need for bold imaginative reform...

17 Sep 2015

I’ve spent quite a lot of time recently wondering whether anybody is actually in charge of government policy with regards to the Arts or whether ministers just randomly make things up as they go along, depending on their current whim...

17 Jul 2015

We know that the transparency technology brings in the digital space allows for grass roots movements to coalesce & drive change like never before. Change is both possible & necessary on many fronts. Today, that front is the inequitable status of commercial radio in the USA and the fight to ensure #fairplayfairpay for all artists, everywhere.

23 Jun 2015

Unlike Germany, Finland has abandoned the levy system in favour of a government remuneration scheme - a system similar to that of Spain. Many have praised Finland’s move as it is encouraging other EU member states away from what is increasingly perceived as an anachronistic levy on devices and blank media.

09 Jun 2015

MusicTank continues its analysis of private copy compensation systems within the EU. Representing the largest recorded music industry in Europe, Germany has been highly influential in laying the foundations for private copy exception, and as such, takes a polar opposite view to Spain and the UK when it comes to compensating rights holders for private copying.

21 May 2015

In the race to legitimacy, those crafting the raw material on which licensed digital services depend - the song - face transparency complexities of Gordian Knot proportions, and which show few signs of abating...